Apple smashes Facebook parent company Meta over digital purchase commission hypocrisy
Meta just torched its own argument against Apple’s right to charge a 30% commission on App Store purchases and Apple wants to make sure we all see it.
To sum up the consensus view of the corporate tech press, Apple’s competitors, and glory-seeking members of Congress, Apple is the Internet’s villain for daring to charge up to a 30% commission on purchases made in the App Store. But apparently one of Apple’s biggest critics wants to charge a significantly higher commission for purchases made on its own platform.
John Swartz, writing at MarketWatch:
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.’s intent to take a nearly 50% cut of digital asset sales within its emerging metaverse is drawing widespread criticism from developers and longtime nemesis Apple Inc.
That’s right, Meta wants to collect half of the revenue creators receive from sales of their digital goods in the metaverse.
As recently as November 2021, Zuckerberg said the following about Apple’s 30% commission:
As we build for the metaverse, we're focused on unlocking opportunities for creators to make money from their work. The 30% fees that Apple takes on transactions make it harder to do that, so we're updating our Subscriptions product so now creators can earn more.
In response to the news of Meta seeking nearly 50% of digital revenue on its platform, Apple released a statement to MarketWatch:
“Meta has repeatedly taken aim at Apple for charging developers a 30% commission for in-app purchases in the App Store — and have used small businesses and creators as a scapegoat at every turn,” Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said in an email to MarketWatch. “Now — Meta seeks to charge those same creators significantly more than any other platform. [Meta’s] announcement lays bare Meta’s hypocrisy. It goes to show that while they seek to use Apple’s platform for free, they happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own.”
Why does all of this matter? Because Facebook, Epic Games, and other major players have been lobbying Congress to bring antitrust action against Apple over Apple’s App Store commission and the exclusivity of the App Store as a means for developers to get their products to iPhone customers. Frankly, I think it’s pretty scummy to try to leverage the State to force one of your competitors to give you a more favorable business arrangement. Now we see clearly that there’s no altruistic principle underlying Meta’s concerns about the App Store. They don’t actually think Apple’s 30% commission is unfair, they just don’t want to have to pay Apple.
I’m not wed to Apple having a 30% cut, and I don’t think Meta is evil for charging a 50% commission if they can get it. What I object to is Meta acting like a white knight when they really just want the State to punish Apple to their benefit. And Apple is quite right to call them on it.
“Scummy” is a nice way of saying it. I would hope whom ever in The State would tell META to go pound sand.